Thierry PRUVOT

Chef de service : 1 restaurant Thierry Pruvot's career path is a rare one. After more than forty years of service at the Pré Catelan, the floor manager has more than one fascinating story to tell, including his own...

Presentation

"My parents were café owners and my cousin ran a small roadside restaurant. Every weekend, I'd go and help them in the dining room. I've always loved this contact with people", recalls Thierry Pruvot. So, at the age of 15, the young man embarked on a CAP (vocational training certificate) while completing two apprenticeships in the Yvelines region. The first, at the Hostellerie du Bon Accueil in Jeufosse, the second at L'Auberge de la Truite in Vert, where he had an encounter that changed his destiny. "A friend of Madame Lenôtre's had a country house there. One day, during service, this customer, who had become close to him, offered to introduce him to the Pré Catelan. Who could have guessed that he would make his career there?

And so, since 1982, Thierry Pruvot has been working at the famous gastronomic restaurant nestled in the Bois de Boulogne. He joined at the age of 18 as a commis, and enjoyed a meteoric rise. "When I arrived here, I was lucky enough to have exceptional colleagues. And I was a real sponge. I needed to reveal myself through my work."

Among his bosses, Jean-François Depont, his mentor, guided and trained him. This guidance bore fruit in 1985, when he was promoted to Maître d'hôtel, and again in 2019, when he succeeded Jean-Jacques Chauveau as Restaurant Manager. Today, Thierry Pruvot is keen to pass on all this accumulated knowledge to the younger generation.

I. B.